What’s everyone’s opinion on a VPN provider? I’ve used Nord for a long time, but my subscription is up next month and I’m exploring my options. I use a vpn 24/7 on my laptop and most of the time on my phone as does much of the family.

Requirements:

  1. Support for family plan/multiple devices
  2. Apple Ecosystem - macOS/iOS clients (Linux nice to have)
  3. Fast enough to always be running on the device
  4. Easy to switch between servers and countries
  5. Not on a lot of deny lists

I did a couple searches here and was surprised I didn’t come across this question before. I hope it’s not asked too often!

E: Currently leaning towards Proton

    • @DevCat
      11•9 months ago

      I’ve got Mullvad on my Android and a Linux virtual machine for when I need a textbook that’s overpriced. That would be all of them.

    • @[email protected]
      2•9 months ago

      I really like mullvad but I unfortunately had to switch because they removed port forwarding. I first switched to Airvpn which is decent but has a max bandwidth of around 600 Mbits/s and I wanted 1000 at minimum but optimally 2000+. Proton VPN fits that requirement well. Unfortunately port forwarding is annoying because they give you a new port every time you connect.

      Fortunately there are forks of the VPN app that automatically change the port configuration in qbittorrent. I’m pretty sure I use this one: https://github.com/ravesheep/ProtonVPN-windows

      There are similar solutions for Linux.

    • ozoned
      21•9 months ago

      I’ve been on Proton for years and I’ve had a Visionary account for years. Proton’s price doesn’t really go up, but the quality and features does immensely. They give me extra storage every year. I get more VPNs, more password managers, more and more and more. IMO they have a track that shows they care about privacy and want to make things better.

      • @WhatsHerBucketOP
        6•9 months ago

        Thanks for the input! I was leaning towards Proton already, just wanted to see if there might be something else I didn’t know about.

      • SteefLem
        4•9 months ago

        Yeah I Second that

      • /home/pineapplelover
        1•9 months ago

        They give like 500 gb of e2ee cloud storage and I haven’t even touched it. I feel ashamed. Last time I plaid with it it was very fast and easy to use

    • @[email protected]
      3•9 months ago

      I see a lot of support for Mulvad but they don’t own their hardware afaict. How can you trust that the hosting provided doesn’t have backdoor access? Azire for example owns, collocates and minimize their hardware (driverless etc.)

      • @[email protected]
        10•9 months ago

        They own some of their servers and rent others. From their FAQ:

        All of our VPN servers are encrypted and are either owned by us or dedicated servers that we rent.

        • Our rented servers are all dedicated, meaning they are not shared with anyone else. We do not use virtual servers.
        • With the servers that we own, we have physical control over these, which means they tend to be faster and more secure.

        When connecting, you can filter to only show owned servers.

  • @[email protected]
    17•9 months ago

    I find it always weird how people don’t trust their provider (in some cases reightly so) but then trust a random VPN provider in central asia.

  • @[email protected]English
    13•9 months ago

    I use Mullvad and Proton. I have a grandfathered Proton Ultimate Visionary plan so I use theirs when I need the port forwarding. I had just started my privacy journey with Proton and didn’t sign up anonymously. Mullvad is my daily driver paid with XMR.

      • @[email protected]
        3•9 months ago

        Because:

        • Mozilla needs money, and I’m assuming there’s a financial incentive for them
        • buying Mullvad one month at a time is annoying as shit
        • a years subsection is half price
        • it’s pretty much the same thing. I just had to change my Mullvad public key with my Mozilla one and my connection still worked.
  • @[email protected]English
    7•9 months ago

    AirVPN is pretty nice, they offer DNS and port forwarding services as well which is quite convenient if you need a human readable hostname for a device over the internet.

    Got a few years for a really good price a while ago too, they occasionally have good sales.

    • kid4today
      2•9 months ago

      I can also recommend AirVPN. I’ve been using it for several years now. I have it on my iMac and iPhone and make use of both the port forwarding and dns. They have their own client (Eddie) but you can use 3rd party clients too. I used the openVPN client for a while and am currently using wireguard.

    • @CaptainSpaceman
      -2•9 months ago

      Doesn’t the VPN own your traffic though?

      Private VPN seems the only real way

  • mommykink
    6•9 months ago

    Mullvad never did me wrong. I even paid in Monero.

    • rezzEnglish
      2•9 months ago

      Mullvad or bust for me.

  • @[email protected]
    3•9 months ago

    For anonymous proxy (which is what you seem to mean instead of VPN) I just keep using Tor for almost everything. Sure, some services do block it - more than your usual commercial offering. But TBF that mostly saves me time from tying to deal with them.

  • @LTColumbo
    1•9 months ago

    It’s Proton for me me hands down

    • @WhatsHerBucketOP
      2•9 months ago

      I actually went with proton, but it’s blocking so many things! Apple Music being the big one.

      Might have to go back to Nord :(

      • @LTColumbo
        2•9 months ago

        What are you using it on? We run on everything. Even on Android TvOS and can access Netflix, Disney+ etc with it running. It’s never off on my iOS either and have no issues

        • @WhatsHerBucketOP
          2•9 months ago

          I run it on iOS and Mac OS (sometimes Linux), but the problem only seems to be with desktop client.

          However, there was update yesterday and now the issue is resolved. Not sure if that was the fix or something else changed, but for now I’m good.

  • @[email protected]English
    -10•9 months ago

    There isn’t much of a discussion because there are like 3 acceptable alternatives. Nord isn’t one of them btw.

          • @[email protected]English
            -13•9 months ago

            I literally said the opposite. Please stop pinging me with your brain-dead bullshit. Thanks.

            • @cosmicrookie
              14•9 months ago

              I am sorry to ping you again, superior user, but i feel obliged to mention that it had been a far smaller inconvenience for you to list the three alternatives that you meant, instead of suggesting people look it up and then guess what you meant. especially when you suggest that Nord is not one of them. You insinuate that you have some knowledge others dont.

              Teasing it like this only proves your personality not your knowledge